United States of America v. Bronx resident Lu Jianwang aka Harry Lu

Brooklyn, New York, criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of China and obstruction of justice.

Reported by Kent Morlan

Lu Jianwang, aka "Harry Lu," age 64, of Brooklyn, New York, used a police station in New York City to target PRC dissidents in furtherance of the Chinese government’s political agenda. May today’s verdict send a message to other foreign agents – the FBI maintains its unwavering resolve to reveal and disrupt the clandestine operations of adversarial nations,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Barnacle.

As proved at trial, Lu and his co-defendant Chen Jinping acted as illegal agents of the PRC government. Beginning in January 2022, under orders from an MPS official, Lu, Chen and others worked together to establish the first known overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the MPS. The police station—which was searched by the FBI in October 2022—was located in an office building at 107 East Broadway in Manhattan’s Chinatown. A blue banner proclaiming “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station, New York, USA,” was recovered there.

The police station operated at the direction and control of the MPS. The MPS is the PRC’s primary domestic law enforcement and intelligence agency. The MPS routinely monitors Chinese political dissidents and others with views adverse to the Chinese government’s sovereignty who live outside the PRC, including in the United States. The MPS has used cooperative contacts both inside the PRC and around the world to influence, threaten, and coerce political dissidents abroad, including in the United States, in an effort to silence them. The New York police station was part of a global initiative by the MPS to establish overseas police service stations all over the world. None of the participants in the police station scheme in Chinatown informed the U.S. government that they were helping the PRC government open and operate an undeclared MPS police station on U.S. soil.

Lu was tasked by his MPS handler with collecting information on behalf of the Chinese government, such as locating a pro-democracy advocate who had fled from China and moved to the U.S.

In October 2022, the FBI conducted a judicially authorized search of the illegal police station. In connection with the search, FBI agents interviewed Lu and Chen and seized their phones. In reviewing the contents of these phones, FBI agents observed that WeChat messages between the defendants and their MPS handler had been deleted.

The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the United States. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/transnational-repression.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Antoinette N. Rangel and Lindsey R. Oken are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Magdalena St. Surin and Danielle Barber. Assistant United States Attorney Alexander A. Solomon played a critical role in the underlying investigation.

the Defendant was found guilty.